15 Google Play Store Tips & Tricks You Should Know

By . in Mobile. Updated on .

Not only are there great apps and widgets found in Google Play Store, but there are also plenty of tips and tricks you might not know of. The store isn’t just for you to scour through lists and lists of apps and reviews to download an app to pass the time. It actually has a few settings and configurations that can help you better manage your downloads, choices, purchases and even your devices.

In this post, we’re going to share with you 15 tips and tricks for Google Play Store that you probably have no clue about (yet). Be it the Android Play Store app or the web version, there are a few things you might find here that will make your app downloads a lot easier to manage.

1. Use Password To Restrict Purchases

Don’t like to find surprise purchases on your account? Like on Apple products, you can use a password to restrict the purchases made on your Android device. This is particularly handy if there are other people using your device as well. To restrict purchases with a password:

  1. Open Play Store app > Settings.
  2. Tap on Password.
  3. Enter your Google password then tap OK.
    4. Use Password To Restrict Purchases
2. Filter Apps Content

App content on Google Play are rated in terms of maturity. Some of the factors that determine what level of maturity an app is at include the presence of gambling, violent or crude humor elements among others. You have some control over the apps that turn up, by filtering them:

  1. Go to Play Store app > Settings.
  2. Tap on Content Filtering.
  3. Tick or untick the maturity level according to your choice. Then tap OK.
    4. Filter Apps Content
3. Redeem Your Gift Card & Promotional Code

If you don’t want to link your credit cards to your Google account, you can buy a Google gift card and redeem it as Play Store credit. Here’s how you redeem code or gift cards:

  1. Open Play Store app.
  2. Swipe to right at the left side of the screen.
  3. Tap on Redeem.
  4. Enter your code and tap on REDEEM.
    5. Redeem Your Gift Card & Promotional Code
4. Display All Your App Orders

Stay on top of all your app orders or in-app purchases that you have bought with your Google account. You can easily look for all your orders in the web Play Store.

  1. Visit web Play Store.
  2. Click the Gear icon > My orders.
    3. Display All Your App Orders
5. Add App To Wishlist

Do you know that you can add apps to a wishlist? It helps you keep track of the apps that you might want to buy one day (but not now). If you want to create your own wishlist, do it this way.

  1. Find the app that you’re interested in getting.
  2. Tap on the + banner at the top to include the app into your wishlist.
    3. Add App To Wishlist
6. Display Your Wishlist

Once you have added apps to your wishlist, you can access your list from within the Play Store app itself. To do that, just follow this steps below.

  1. Swipe to right at the left side of your Android device screen.
  2. Tap on My Wishlist.
    3. Display Your Wishlist
7. Disable Updates Notifications

By default Play Store will automatically update all your Android apps if there is a new version available. If you happen to have disabled that feature, but still receive notifications telling you to update your apps, here’s how you can totally disable those annoying notifications.

  1. Open Play Store app > Settings.
  2. Untick Notifications.
    3. Disable Updates Notifications
8. Don’t Auto-Add Widgets For New Apps

For apps downloaded from App Store, a widget shortcut is created for each app you download. Over time, your homescreen will be filled with unwanted widgets. If you do not want Play Store to do that automatically, here’s how you can disable it.

  1. Open Play Store > Settings.
  2. Untick Auto-add widgets.
    3. Auto Add Widgets For New Apps
9. Display All Your Android Devices

Every device that is connected to your Google Account and used to access the Play Store, will automatically be added as one of your devices. You can access a list that will show all the available Android devices that is under your account. If you’re interested, this few steps will lead you to your list.

  1. Go to the web Play Store.
  2. Click on the Gear icon > Settings.
    3. Display All Your Android Devices
10. Hide Device From Menus

You can hide your device from showing in your menu list when you’re downloading an app. This can be done from within the settings page of Play Store web version. Here’s how you can hide your device from menus.

  1. Visit web Play Store.
  2. Click on the Gear icon > Settings.
  3. Untick Show in menus for the device that you want to hide.
    4. Hide Device From Menus
11. Ring, Lock & Erase Your Device With Android Device Manager

If you haven’t noticed yet, ever since Google released Play Store service version 3.2.25, an app called Android Device Manager has been introduced. This app lets you control your Android device from the web version of the Play store. You can ring your device, lock it remotely or erase data from the device in case it was stolen. To access such feature, follow this steps.

  1. Go to web Play Store.
  2. Click on Gear icon > Android Device Manager.
    3. Ring, Lock & Erase Your Device With Android Device Manager
12. Choose Your Device In Android Device Manager

Android Device Manager can help you track all your other devices registered under the same Google account. If for some reason you want to locate any one of your devices from the web, here’s how.

  1. Visit web Play Store.
  2. Click the Gear icon > Android Device Manager.
  3. From the drop-down, choose the device you want to track.
    4. Choose Your Device In Android Device Manager
13. Download App From Web Play Store

Do you know that you can also download apps to your device from the web version of Play Store? You can also download any app to any of your Android devices from within your desktop browser. To do that, follow this steps.

  1. Open web Play Store.
  2. Search for the app that you would like to download.
  3. Tap on Install.
  4. Choose the device that you want to install the app on than press Install.
    5. Download App From Web Play Store
14. Optimized For Tablet or All Apps

Because Play Store caters for both smartphone and tablet apps, you might want to filter your app search results for apps that are optimized for tablets. There is an option for that. Just follow these steps.

  1. Open the Play Store app > tap on APPS at the top.
  2. Then pick any of the top categories e.g TOP PAID.
  3. From the drop-down, choose Designed for tablets or All apps.
    4. Optimized For Tablet or All Apps
15. Request For A Refund

Don’t like an app that you have just bought? You can get your money back in a 15-minute window. If however you have surpassed that 15-minutes, you need to request a refund from the developer with the following steps:

  1. Click on the Gear icon > My orders.
  2. Find the app that you want to refund, click on the favicon than choose report a problem.
  3. Choose I’d like to request a refund from the drop-down and describe your reason.
  4. Next click on Submit.
    5. Request For A Refund
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